Arkansas News:
U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln said today she opposes a public health insurance option because it would be too expensive.
“For some in my caucus, when they talk about a public option they’re talking about another entitlement program, and we can’t afford that right now as a nation,” Lincoln said in a speech to the Elder Law Task Force at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Lincoln has said previously she would support whatever health care plan worked, but she indicated Tuesday that a plan including an expensive, government-funded health insurance program would not get her vote.
“I’m not going to vote for a bill that’s not deficit-neutral, and I’m not going to vote for a bill that doesn’t do something about curbing the cost in the out years, because it would be pointless … I would not support a solely government-funded public option. We can’t afford that,” Lincoln told reporters before her speech.
The Politico points out that Lincoln is facing a credible Republican challenger in her next election.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), one day after finding she's facing a credible Republican challenger, came out against the public option
Yep, that'll do it.
Reminder- August 16, 2009, another Democratic Senator, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, said that going after the public option was a "wasted effort".
Conrad's words:
"The fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the United States Senate for the public option, there never have been, so to continue to chase that rabbit is just a wasted effort."
I fully expect to see a few more people jump off the sinking ship that was Obamacare with the public option. They may be convinced to re-board the ship if that particular option is removed, but then they still have to explain voting for something that will add another trillion to our debt, especially after finding out the projections of the deficit were miscalculated originally and will be $2 trillion more than originally projected, bringing it to $9 trillion.
.
